DayofPal—Tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens of 1948 Occupied Territories have launched a nationwide, open-ended strike to protest soaring levels of crime and violence in their communities.
The marchers accused Israeli authorities of deliberate neglect and complicity in organized criminal activity.
The strike began this week in the northern city of Sakhnin after local authorities, community committees and parents’ groups called for collective action against rampant gun violence and the failure of Israeli police to protect Palestinian towns.
The protest has since spread to multiple Palestinian-majority areas, becoming one of the largest mobilizations by the community in years.
The demonstrations come amid an unprecedented surge in killings, with rights group Abraham Initiatives describing 2025 as the deadliest year on record for Palestinian citizens of 1948 Occupied Territories.
At least 252 Palestinians were killed in criminal incidents last year, compared with 230 in 2024, while 19 more have been killed since the start of this year.
Community leaders say the violence is not accidental but the result of long-standing discriminatory policies.
The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel accused the state of enabling organized crime through years of under-policing, selective law enforcement and institutional racism.
Protesters have carried banners denouncing police inaction and demanding an end to what they describe as state-sponsored insecurity.
Human rights organizations argue that the crime crisis is inseparable from broader Israeli policies that marginalized Palestinian citizens, who make up around 20 percent of the population.
Despite holding citizenship, they have faced decades of discriminatory laws, unequal resource allocation and repression, a pattern that rights groups say has intensified since the war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Legal centre Adalah has documented more than 30 new Israeli laws passed since then that restrict political freedoms, expand counterterrorism powers used almost exclusively against Palestinians, and institutionalise unequal treatment in welfare, education and employment.
Activists say the current wave of violence reflects a deeper system of structural discrimination and state failure that amounts to a grave violation of Palestinian citizens’ rights.
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